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By Myrna Trauntvein Brian Trick, the new Spanish Fork District Ranger for the Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest Service, said he would keep communication open with the Juab County Commission. “I am the new permanent ranger,” said Trick. “I started in January of this year.” Clinton Painter, commissioner, said that it had been a long time since the former ranger had made visits with the commission a priority. It was a welcome sign that Trick was present to discuss issues and commissioners would be happy to have open communication with the ranger. “We are in a hiring freeze,” said Trick. “We are operating with half the staff and are working with a bare bones staff.” Soon another staff member would retire so they would be even shorter staffed. He said the fire fighting side of the district was still maintaining a largely steady staff. “The Black Hawk contract is halfway completed,” said Trick. “Large vault toilets are being built. This half of the contract is being completed by the same contractor that we had.” He said that he would be going over the plan for the Juab County side of the district and would like to hear from the commission. “Are you finished at Bear Canyon?” asked Painter. Trick said that they planned to address the toilet issue this coming season. “We would like to see the water brought back to Bear Canyon,” said Painter. “Our residents would like to have that restored.” Trick said that he would look into that and was also looking at the prescribed burn in Ponderosa Campground. A burn plan needed to be written but would be a multi-burn fire so that it would be done within only a small area at a time. Fire was good for Ponderosa Pines because it got rid of the undergrowth and gave more area for Ponderosa to thrive, he said. “We will take public input and you are on the radar for a community meeting,” he said. He said that the biologists with the fire side favored fire because it would burn off the needle cast. The plan would be to keep each part of the fire, to be set in stages, a slow fire and to mitigate any fire danger. Painter said that, in 2007, there had been a small fire that the forest service was watching when it blew up and destroyed great chunks of the Juab and Utah County sides of the forest. Trick said that the land managers were still gun shy about that event. There would be many meetings before anything happened and the commissioners would be involved. Painter asked about the use of the volunteer Dedicated Hunters who are required to have hours of service through the program. They might provide extra help. Marty Palmer, commissioner, asked about dredging of the fishing pond at Jenkins Flat. “We have a verbal agreement but it is not in writing,” said Palmer. “The area for placing the spoils has been agreed upon,” said Marvin Kenison, commission chairman. Lynn Ingram, county road department superintendent, said he had talked to Sarah Flinders, U.S. Forest Service Education Coordinator, about the project. Flinders is involved in community events like youth fishing, and handling public facilities, showing dedication to both conservation education and managing public land impacts, with the Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest. Painter said that eight years ago the forest service had installed pay boxes at Monument and wondered if any money was found in those boxes. He had noted that people were parking in other areas and walking in rather than using the pay boxes. Trick said there was conflicting opinion about the pay box. However, across 43 days use was down by 46 percent. Painter said people were still using the trail head but not parking where they were required to pay. “We have a written agreement that the forest service would never charge for campground use at Cottonwood,” said Kenison. “Still a pay box was installed.” Trick said he would get with staff and see why the pay boxes were installed. He said they did have a counter and could check to see if usage was down. “Send me an email,” said Trick. “Let me know of your concerns. We will not be sneaky.” Painter said that the commission wanted to be informed and would like to see communications kept open. They had not been informed about some things in the past. He asked if the commission had a preferred point of contact. He did have Shanna Memmott, county tourism director, as a contact also. “We would like you to come here,” said Painter. “We would like to meet with you person to person,” said Kenison.
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